Still Jaden
by SamCyberCat
Summary: Not everyone had a chance to react to Jaden becoming the Supreme King. After it’s over some of his friends stop to consider how they feel about it.


Request fic for darkqiviut. He asked for a story in which either Alexis, Chazz, Atticus, Hassleberry or Zane react to the changes in Jaden when he became the Supreme King. I decided to go for all of them. He also said to could either be set in the dub or the original but since he prefers the dub I decided to go for that. Set post-season 3 due to some characters not finding out until afterwards.

---

Alexis almost choked when she heard.

Okay, so she didn't. She was a well-composed girl so choking wasn't something she made a habit of, but it took a lot to surprise her and this certainly did.

More so that she didn't even hear about it from Jaden himself. It was Syrus who eventually recounted the events of the Dark World that happened after herself, Chazz, Atticus and Hassleberry had been sent to the stars. They all sat around the table listening to him and each reacted in a different way. For her… it was more a lack of reaction. At least on the outside.

On the inside it was a different story.

She'd noticed Jaden had been different since he's returned, and she'd heard some talk of Yubel, but she had no idea about what was truly going on with him. Whatever it was it had changed Jaden completely. Usually he was so open about his feelings, but now he'd shut himself off from them all and became so secretive. On the rare times that they'd spoke she almost had to remind herself that this was Jaden she was talking to and not Zane.

Was he ashamed of what he'd done?

The torment he'd caused others as the Supreme King sounded like a great burden to bear. From what Syrus had said he'd even been responsible for sending away Axel and Jim, both of who had been his friends.

How could he face them now?

She knew that if it had been her in his place that would be the first thing dominating her mind. And Jaden… he was such a free spirit. He wasn't as stern as she was, so it must have been even harder for him to come to terms with this.

Although she couldn't be sure that this was the reason why he'd shut himself off from them all it was the only reason that she felt she could deal with right now.

But Jaden was her friend. He'd stood by her many times before and if he needed her to do the same for him than she wouldn't be the one to turn away from him.

Taking a deep breath to bury the sadness she took to go towards the dorm that he remained in alone.

---

When Syrus had told them about what Jaden had done it was Chazz who reacted first, Chazz who questioned him the most in a sharp, angry tone, and Chazz who inevitably had to be silenced by an angry glance from Alexis.

After the 'meeting' was over he made the biggest show of leaving, making an audible slam of his bedroom door in his newly reacquired Blue Dorm room. They would all have no doubts how Chazz felt about the Supreme King.

But when inside Chazz slumped down against the door with his head in his arms. For a moment the ghostly figure of Ojama Yellow made to go over to him but his brothers held him back. With all their antics even they knew when Chazz needed a moment to reflect.

Stupid Jaden…

He was always such an idiot but he was always such an indestructible idiot.

He was supposed to be the one that they could count on to bail them out of trouble. He was supposed to be the hero. How dare anyone who could defeat Chazz go on to be corrupted so brutally themselves.

But then…

The thought flashed across his mind only for a moment, but though Chazz was good at denial the presence of the thought made it settle in his head. Was he so mad at Jaden for becoming the Supreme King or was he mad at himself for not being there to help Jaden the one time he actually needed help?

Over the years there hadn't been just one time when Jaden had helped Chazz. It was Jaden who pulled him away from his brothers in the first year, it was Jaden who soon after helped Chazz find the Ojama cards that helped defeat those same brothers, and it was Jaden who dragged him back from the Society of Light. He wouldn't admit it to himself but somewhere down inside of Chazz he had started to feel almost like a damsel in distress for Jaden, and this notion mocked him so much that he'd really wanted to save Jaden to balance out their score.

But he hadn't been there to stop Jaden from being consumed by the darkness in his heart. It hadn't been him who defeated that darkness or advised Jaden on what to do afterwards. He'd been stuck in the stars, unable to do a thing…

And now Jaden didn't need saved.

Or did he?

Since they'd got back none of them had seen him very much. And it didn't take seeing him a lot to see that he was different.

Chazz wasn't good at figuring people out. And he wasn't good at words. But he was starting to think he was good at understanding the old Jaden. The idiot. He knew where he was with that idiot. And maybe he couldn't do anything to help Jaden but if he didn't try it'd never let him go.

He got up, walking past the Ojamas and out of the door.

---

It was hard for Atticus to come to the terms with the fact that it wasn't hard to come to terms with what Jaden had done. It should have meant more to him like it did the others but when it came down to it he really didn't know Jaden as well as any of them.

He stayed at the table long after the others had left the room, staring thoughtfully into space. It wasn't until after much thought that it actually did hit him how sad the whole situation was.

Though he knew he hadn't been as close to Jaden as the others had that didn't mean Jaden had no effect on his life. To the contrary Jaden had done something very important for him: he'd rescued Atticus's little sister.

When the Light had taken Alexis it was Jaden that Atticus found to asked for help. Because Jaden was a hero. Atticus knew one of those when he saw one. Because Atticus was good with faces.

And he'd known something was wrong the moment he'd seen Jaden's face when he returned. Those eyes weren't Jaden's eyes. He hoped they weren't the Supreme King's eyes either, but as Syrus told them what he knew of Yubel it all started to come into place. That wasn't just Jaden in that mind.

Another thing Atticus knew about was women, but he really wasn't sure he knew Yubel at all. It seemed that Jaden had accepted her to be part of him. Did that count as a relationship? Atticus wasn't sure. But he'd never thought for a moment that the bubbly Jaden he'd known would choose to combine his life with someone like that.

This wasn't the Jaden he'd known though. Of them all Atticus had found this fact the easiest to accept. Jaden had changed and the world would have to adjust with those changes.

Even so…

He didn't think he'd ever let one of his friends embark on a relationship, whether it was one or not, without giving them some advice from the expert romance teacher. Smirking to himself he finally rose from the table.

---

For all he'd sat silently and heard Syrus out there was actually something of a rage building up inside of Hassleberry. He couldn't show it in front of the others, it was obvious they were all struggling with the issue themselves, but the moment he had left and was out of earshot the closest tree felt a smack from his fist.

He couldn't accept this.

He wanted to hate Jaden for this. The boy he'd admired for years, the boy he'd fought over with Syrus, Hassleberry had given that affection towards Jaden for a reason. It wasn't easy to earn Hassleberry's trust, but it was certainly easy to lose it.

And as far as he was concerned Jaden had just lost it. How could anyone cause that much suffering without having a second thought? Without stopping to see that what they were doing was wrong?

If Jaden could than he was not the person Hassleberry had thought he was.

And perhaps he would never be that person again… It seemed as if Jaden had grown up and would stay this way no matter what anyone thought.

If that was so than perhaps him and Hassleberry could never be friends again. That caused a knot to appear inside his chest. He'd never thought what he'd had with Jaden would end so quickly without even a goodbye.

If he never saw Jaden again that goodbye would never have to happen. But then he'd go through the rest of his life knowing that he'd changed from a bully into an approachable person all for the sake of someone he'd cut himself off from. Someone he'd not given another chance.

Damn, Jaden did get under your skin…

Perhaps it wouldn't hurt for him to go to the Red Dorm. Even if it was just to say goodbye.

---

Unlike the others Zane hadn't been there when Syrus had told them about the Supreme King. He didn't need to be – he'd seen it firsthand.

He'd been one of the ones who had stepped forward to help stop the reign of that king. And he'd been the one who'd sacrificed his own soul to show Jaden the right path to take.

But all the while he'd never stopped to think about the situation. That wasn't how Zane worked since he'd left the academy after his own graduation. In the past he'd thought a lot about other people, about how to respect them, but since he'd taken up underground duelling all he'd thought about was how to complete the objective that was in front of him.

In the Dark World that objective had been to stop the Supreme King, then it had been to show Jaden how to be strong once more. He'd not once stopped to think about how he felt about it all.

But now he had time. They'd all come back from the Dark World and Zane was crippled. Not that being in a wheelchair changed too much. He knew that either way it was time to pass on the legacy to Syrus. But being unable to walk seemed to give him more time to think. And thoughts that were more akin with the old Zane were starting to emerge. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

The Supreme King… Really that person wasn't too much different from the person Zane had been these past two years. Both he and Jaden had been backed in a corner, with no one to offer them support, and through it they had both chosen to go down what at the time had seemed like the only route available to them.

He couldn't detest the Supreme King without detesting part of himself too. But that wasn't to say that he didn't…

If Jaden kept this up who was to say he wouldn't end up crippled like Zane was? The old Jaden he had no doubt would duel happily until his dying day, but he had no idea about this new Jaden. He couldn't say that this Jaden wouldn't mimic his mistakes.

Zane had no place advising Jaden. For he knew that even now that Jaden was still less corrupted than he was himself. And yet… Jaden needed someone to watch over him. Now that Zane had all the time in the world he could make to look after both Jaden and Syrus.

He started to heave his wheelchair in the direction of the Red Dorm.

---

It had seemed like a personal thing to do at the time.

Each of them had wanted to come to see him to pay their support or respect to him. They each thought that they'd be the only ones who'd do so. But they should have known that it wouldn't end up that way.

Because when you were dealing with Jaden he made you feel like you were worth something, no matter whom you were. But at the end of the day he made everyone feel like that. They were all his friends. They had all been shaped by him, or helped by him, somehow in their lives.

If any of them were going to heal Jaden it would be all of them.

Together they took hold of the door handle, knowing whatever they faced inside would be a new chapter of theirs and Jaden's lives.


End file.
